She Has to be Different
by MercyFrost
Summary: Lex has never had the best luck with women in serious relationships. But Lana's different, somehow, right?


Pain had a way of bringing her to him in a way nothing else could. Clark hurt Lana yet again. And she came to him.

At first he thought she was there to talk about the ship. She didn't. And while he would never admit it, he loved. He expected it though. Clark and her were doomed from the beginning. They were too alike.

Lana and Lex however were so different they could compliment each other in a way Clark had no shot of doing. It was also fairly blatant that Clark was falling for Lois in a spiral and was leaving Lana in the dust.

He ended up hurting her. And Lex had intentions to take full advantage of that. How could he not? She was running right to him.

Knowing Clark, he'll come barging in, jealous, ranting about taking advantage of her heartbreak. Lex would then counter with, "And who was it that caused that heartbreak, Clark?" He would be speechless, glare at him, saying something about honor and morality that Lex honestly couldn't care less about and he would make that obvious. Pour some scotch, sip it, and then Clark would leave.

It happens more often than either man would care to admit. Lex was surprised Lana put up with that for so long. Maybe she didn't know any better. Between Clark and Chloe he didn't see how she could. He would be sure to show her what the world really had to offer. Understanding, passion, respect for privacy, well, at least a more discreet disrespect for privacy.

Chloe had absolutely no respect for privacy. It really wore on his nerves at some points. Lana either had no secrets at all, or as Lex secretly hoped, she was just even better at hiding them than anyone would have guessed. Now that would prove interesting. It would peak his interest in her even more than it already was.

She had a way of doing that to him. He would never let anyone know that though. Unless, of course, it proved to serve his cause. But something like that had the power to come back to bite him, which is really something he could not afford. Nt with his enemies. No, he would have to completely win her over, then only allow her to know how much she enraptured him, but it would be completely disguised to others.

But who else needed to know? Though, women had a tendency to get like that. Their friends get in their head and they demand more. More public displays of affection, that they knew he could not afford. Then they felt ignored, and it just went downhill from there.

Then there were the gold-diggers. Oh, they were their own brand. Helen Bryce was the perfect example. The worst part was, he had actually fallen for her. But, as it turned out, she was not only just in it for the money, but she was working with his father. Yes, that was not an experience he would want to repeat.

But there was yet another group that were just psychopaths. Desiree was that meteor freak that had the love potion. He's still not entirely sure what she was in it for. She was certainly not on the list of scenarios he wished to revisit either.

But Lana was different. He was sure she wasn't a gold-digger. She did date Clark Kent, who was likely to lose his farm at any given moment. She didn't seem likely to snap at any moment. Then again do they ever? In theory he could snap at any moment too. But the logistics of a psychotic break were another thought train he did not want to board. She could end up like the vast majority of women who always wanted more, but he hoped there was enough farm girl sweetness left that she wouldn't expect him to kiss her every time they crossed the street safely.

Besides, Lana was from a different setting than he was used to. Clark hadn't been a huge fan of PDAs it seemed, so maybe he was in the clear on that one. Maybe.

It could be that's what broke them up. He doubted it.

But, as he had learned, he would explore every scenario. He called in his newest assistant and ordered her to find out what exactly broke Clark and Lana up. It shouldn't be that difficult. It's a small town, word gets around fast. If need be, he'll fire her and ask the next one to find out, and if worst came to worst he would ask Mercer to find out.

She seemed to produce results. Must be the Luthor gene pulling through. He should probably tell her. But it was leverage that he could use at a future date. She had potential, but Queen broke her, leaving her pathetic. Yeah, she didn't deserve to carry the Luthor name.

Lana did. She didn't let a break up destroy her. She rolled with the punches in a way that intrigued him. She stayed strong, but didn't protest. She suffered in silence, that was the phrase he was looking for. If he found a way to unleash that silent fury she could prove dangerous. Though, he knew it would take a lot of work to draw the fire out.

But that's partially what he admired about her. She wasn't easily changed unless she wanted to be. So the best way to change her would be to make her want to change. And that he could do.

There's nothing that Lex does better than mind games. His enemies know that first hand. His enemies are another thing to worry about. If they ever got to her she would never speak to him again. He would just have to convince her that he was that good. Even though he knew it wasn't true.


End file.
